[AQ] The Heartless Eggs [Ji-Yoo, Shun, Yukiya/ADMIN]

[Yukiya]

SPOILER: Click to show

{Spoiler}DEAD HEARTS


You managed to get an OR Line Pass, and you decide to ignore the warnings and take a day trip over to West Oto.



Investigate the rival school: +2 Guardians, +3 Faberge, -4 Roost


Have an encounter with the Egg Hunters: -3 Guardians, +2 Faberge, +3 Roost


Get into a fight with the Egg Hunters: -3 Guardians, -2 Faberge, +2 Roost


Requirements: Tag X-mod for Egg Hunter encounter, Tag Admin for investigation path. Requires OR Line Pass to begin.

Everyone in the school had heard about the injured girl from West Oto showing up in Seiyo. At first, Yuki found it odd that they took her to the school infirmary and kept her there. Wouldn't they think of taking her to the hospital first? But he'd learned more, from school rumors, and from some Twitter reactions – the girl's heart egg was broken.

Yuki hadn't been in the whole egg business long. In fact, he'd just learned that little characters came out of the eggs. They seemed so harmless. Talked a lot, usually, and they didn't always get along with their bearers, but they meant the best. So he wondered why someone would break the eggs? And would their bearers always end up like the girl if the eggs were broken? None of it made sense.
What did make sense was that there were people in West Oto that he needed to make sure were okay.

–

Soon after hearing about the girl, he went to get an OR pass. Unfortunately the store had run out of passes – were students really in to going into West Otonoki? - so he was planning to go get one the next day. One day wouldn't hurt them, right? And it's not like every student had a heart's egg…but it did seem like the people he was thinking of would have them. They were artists after all. Dancing, singing, art, writing – they weren't Faberge, but the community art center he had went as a kid had a lot of hopeful kids who wanted to display their talents. A particular pigtailed girl sprang in his memory, one that always insisted that she'd become an idol and sang so loud he could hear him from two rooms away. She reminded him of his twin, except a bit more boastful and could actually sing. And as much as he tried to not think about him, his 'rival' Nobu had gone to West Oto as well. He would be a third year. He wasn't sure if he would have an egg, but he was talented and goal oriented. Surely he dreamed of being a successful mangaka.

As he thought about it, he ran into Shun and Ji-Yoo. For some reason, he had encounters with these two recently, and considered them friends. He put up his best smile, although his faraway eyes might suggest otherwise.

“Hey you two,” he said, scratching his head. It felt so weird to be serious. He just wanted to joke around like he usually did. He leaned back against the wall, still lost in thought.
After he recovered, he bounced back and approached them again, interrupting any conversation they might be having. “You guys...wouldn't happen to have an OR Pass on you?” He laughed. Probably not. But it was still worth a shot, right?

@shunhunny Ji Yoo

[Ji Yoo]

Ji-Yoo wasn’t the kind of person that rumors got quickly to, especially not at school. She was way more preoccupied with studying than giving attention to other people’s conversations. And considering she didn’t exactly have friends to keep her updated on well, various things, one could say that Ji-Yoo’s social life was thoroughly lacking. Lately it did seem like she started talking to more people, but the girl couldn’t exactly call the friends and perhaps it was better not to.

Despite staying away from gossip, Ji-Yoo sometimes logged into twitter when she had time, such as a few days ago. Something bad seemed to have happened because everyone was blowing it out of proportion. After investigating a bit, Ji-Yoo found out that there were some people from West Oto who went around breaking Heart Eggs. All the sempais were advising everyone to stay put and hide their characters so as not to have something similar happen to them. They were also talking about a student from another high school who ended up at the Academy with her egg broken.

Thus far, Ji-Yoo really didn’t concern herself with guardian character-related matters. She was trying to live her own life peacefully and ignore Kong-Ji as much as possible, but upon finding out about the kind of dangers she was exposed to without even knowing, the girl started looking for information on heart eggs and the power they held. She found she could character transform with Kong-Ji’s help and fight off potential threats. But of course Ji-Yoo didn’t want to actually fight. All this was for the sake of protecting herself, since she was more than aware that nobody would jump to her rescue if she ever needed it.

Her character transformation didn’t seem to hold much offensive power, but her defense and stamina were good. The girl was confident that if anything happened, she’d probably be able to hold her own. And especially since she wasn’t, in fact, looking for trouble, she should be fine. She’d just go on with her life as a (kind of) normal student and keep out of danger. She’d ignore those people who were silly enough to get OR passes and jump right in the arms of the egg-hunters. She’d be smart about it. Really.

As the girl made her way around the Seiyo Academy campus, she ran into Shun. Ew. Ever since some time ago, she started regretting signing him up for literature club. Initially, Ji-Yoo felt bad for him and wanted to tech him not to give so much importance to other people, at least not to the point of disregarding himself. But he proved to be just too much for her to handle. He had too much energy and was too chatty, something Ji-Yoo couldn’t keep up with.

Her efforts to avoid him were in vain because Shun ran to her as soon as their eyes met. “Hey, you two!” What was that, another familiar voice? Minamoto Yukiya. Why, why did she always have to run into these two people? She rolled her eyes and let out a depressed sigh. Why couldn’t she just hang around normal people. Now the only thing missing was for Kong-Ji to wake up and come out of her egg.
“Um what? OR pass?” Ji-Yoo snorted. The guy couldn’t be serious. Why would he even need something like that? Did he really want to go to West Oto and end up dead? “ Why do you think we’d have that?”

[Deleted]

"I'm not afraid of any egg hunters. They have to be punished for breaking those eggs."

That was what Leo said when they heard about the news. The normally serious guardian character now had a look in his face like he wants to effectively murder someone. Shun was convinced by none other than Leo to go get the OR line pass. Leo for once, had abused his power over Shun to make him do something he originally didn't want to do. It's for the best, he says. He convinced Shun that he'll be alright. But a few hours before taking the trip down to West Otonoki, he had a change of heart. His mind was so clouded by anger that he's willing to put Shun in the line of danger. Lest he forgot, this kid can't DO ANYTHING without others around.

"Shun, I'm sorry, let's not do this." As annoying as Shun was, even to Leo, the whole point of being a guardian character is to watch over him. "But, they're hurting others..." Rule number one is that you shouldn't tell Shun what's going on. You can usually get around him by not telling him anything and he'll be perfectly fine. But upon hearing this, he believed that Leo wants to do some good and is now more willing than ever to help. "My anger got out of hand, and I forced you to buy the OR line pass and even didn't care about sending you out there. That was stupid. Let's just get out of Otonoki." While he is still fearless, ultimately his realization of what he's doing to Shun actually outweighed his desire to confront the egg hunters.

"You told me for a reason. So we're going to help those people!" Leo tried to pull on Shun's hair to try to make him stop. He thought he was going to fail before a couple of his friends ran into him. His last ditch attempt may be working after all. "Aren't you going to say 'hi' to your friends? Isn't it better to just stick around here, at least?" He's hoping Shun would just forget he had an OR line pass and decide not to go. His friends are the only one standing between him and the actual decision to go.

Yet something unexpected happened. "Hello! Ji Yoo and Yuki!" He hid the OR line pass in his pockets and decided to say hello to them. He would usually be hyperactive at this point and pull his friends to the dreaded selfie hole, but he really isn't doing that at all. He's....Tame. And usually when he's like this, something is definitely up. "OR line pass? What's that?" Acting at it's finest. "I was just about to go and say hello to the plants in town." Leo knows what's up, but why isn't he trying to stop this from happening? He could just say that this guy bought an OR line pass and was planning to go on a suicide mission, but for some reason, he couldn't. He just floated around in silence.

A part of him didn't want to put anyone else in danger, so he should probably just endorse the lies that Shun is making. "Shun, the flowers are over there." To which he bounced over to where some potted plants are to see them. "See? So where are you guys headed this fine morning?"

[Yukiya]

He laughed at Ji-Yoo's question, and shrugged. “I used to go there often with my parents. It'd be nice to go for old time's sake. But yeah, I understand with all those rumors about West Oto that you guys wouldn't bother with the rail pass.” He tried to stay as calm as possible, but he kept staring into space. He wondered if he should even bother tomorrow. After all, he hadn't seen his old classmates in years. Should he really care so much? They probably forgot about him after he stopped coming to art class.

However, Shun's reaction was a bit suspect. Talking to plants was expected from him, but Shun not bursting with energy and trying to get them into another selfie? There was something wrong. “...wait, you bought one, didn't you? Or you were thinking of it.”

Yuki sighed. It was surprising that he would ever ask Shun for a favor, but the guy had proved himself more useful than his carefree self let on in the last few weeks. He paused for a few seconds, and took another breath.

“If you have a pass...I want to go to West Oto as soon as possible,” he said. He was sure Ji-Yoo would look at him like he was nuts, but he had to harden himself. Because he was scared. Scared to get deeper into this egg business if it would get him injured and possibly broken for life. Yet, somewhere in his heart he just had to go there and find out the truth. “I also have old friends there. I just want to make sure they're not caught up in this mess, and if they are, that they can get help somewhere. Seems like a lot more people at Seiyo know this egg stuff more than us, right? We can ask all those 'senpais' for advice at least.”

He chuckled nervously. “...this one guy in particular, Takeo or something, said not to go alone, right?” Wait, what was he asking? Was he gonna drag the two into danger? “I mean...you don't have to go with me...but I...”

It was probably obvious he was scared, but he just didn't want to admit his fear. For once, he felt like he said too many things.

[Ji Yoo]

Ji-Yoo slightly narrowed her eyes at Yuki’s laugh, not being able to find anything funny in her previous statement. Fine, he wanted to go there for old times’ sake, but that still didn’t explain why Shun or her would have an OR Line Pass. Rather than that, it just proved that Yuki had absolutely no sense of danger. Was he even aware of what happened in the past few days? Of those people that went around breaking Heart’s Eggs? Did he have a death wish?

On the other hand, Ji-Yoo thought Shun was being a little suspicious ever since he opened his mouth. He wasn’t usually this calm. He would be loud and energetic and probably drag them into doing something silly. But this… was he really hiding something? The girl crossed her arms and stared at Shun with menacing feline eyes. He wasn’t… possibly trying to hide an OR Line Pass, was he? Ji-Yoo thought she knew Shun well enough and she did. Being the type who got easily scared, no matter how tempted he’d feel to get into silly things, he’d stay away from danger. Or was that wrong of her to assume?

And his acting was… terrible. Greet the plants? Don’t joke around. And the weirdest part was that his guardian character seemed to play along. Leo was too much of a serious and stiff character to do that. So what was really going on? Ji-Yoo couldn’t really get her mind around it. She could probably threaten Shun to confess, but then again, that could backfire and make him run away. He didn’t take her scary side well, as didn’t most people.

Just then, little Kong-Ji broke out of her egg. She stretched out her arms and let out a long yawn before blinking and looking at everyone who was surrounding her. “Ohhh good morning! What’s going on? Did Kong-Ji just hear someone mention saying hi to the plants? Kong-Ji loves plants!” She glanced around and spotted Shun and Leo, two of her best friends. “Shun chaaaan“ She hugged his face with her small arms. She really liked Shun. He was a happy and bright person who loved everything and everyone just like she did.

Meanwhile Ji-Yoo was listening to the nonsense Yuki was speaking. “So you weren’t joking. You’re really going to do it.” The girl was more bewildered than angry at this point. “Have you even listened to what our sempais said? They’re stronger than us and yet they aren’t going to do something about it themselves and why? Because it’s dangerous. Has your guardian character even hatched yet? If by some misfortune you run into those egg-breakers, how are you going to defend yourself? You aready have an empty head. Do you want to end up with an empty heart as well? So quit speaking nonsense. We’re not going anywhere and neither are you. Right, Iwajima-san?” She looked over to the boy, seeking some sort of approval.

[Deleted]

Did...Yuki really just picked up on the fact that he HAS an OR line pass? This isn't good. As much as he wants to tear up and help Yuki with the checking up of his friends, he just can't. Ji Yoo is right, Shun hasn't seen Yuki's guardian character yet, so he wouldn't just take Yuki there with him. "I..." And just then Kong Ji popped up. Ah, the cute little guardian character really helps with the mood. He turned his attention to her. "Kong Jiiiiii~" Receiving a hug really did quell the tears. Kong Ji is always so kind. "Yeah! Saying hi to the plants and the flowers, I haven't said hello to the ones over there!" He walked on over to another set of plants and waved at it. Leo resisted the urge of rolling his eyes and just went with them.

"Right! We can't go there. I don't have an OR pass, what makes you think I'd buy one?" Then again, he would just say 'yea' to everything people say. Especially if this is Ji Yoo. Since she's scary when she's mad. So it's best just to say yes. "Oh, but I'm just going downtown today to like...Buy medicine." He had to think of something else. He had to get them away from him if he still wanted to go by himself. They don't need to go. He just decided on the spot that he'll go by himself. Leo picked up on this and looked to a corner. "Well, if that's what you decide, then, I won't really judge you." He's somewhat throwing hints at the others. Something that says 'he's not really going to buy medicine, but don't follow.' "You better go before it gets late. Cold medicine, right?" He 'reminded' Shun what he needed to pretend to buy.

"Mmmhmmmm, gotta get cold medicine cause I haven't been feeling to well lately ahaha~" But this would pose some problems in itself. They might try to take him to the pharmacy to make sure he's alright. But if there's anything he knows, people either found him annoying or actually likeable, and the chances of then actually caring enough to go with him should be about 50-50. "I'll just be on my way, then. Leo here can take good care of me." He seems to be in a rush to leave, turning around with a quick wave, he walked off to the distance. Please don't let them follow him.

But wait...He's not really heading in the 'right' direction, if that's what you're thinking. It's not obvious, but he's hoping he'd be scot free as soon as he's out of sight. Just use the OR line pass and go. There's no more time to waste. "So you're really going by yourself? I can't say that's a good idea, but I pushed you to do this and it's better if we don't drag others with us." Shun nodded silently. His 'calm' demeanor today is probably making his lies more obvious.

He finally reached the point where he's about to use the pass to West Otonoki. This is it. There's no turning back. That is, unless someone stops him. He might just run in to avoid them. Might.

[Yukiya]

Of course it was stupid. It's not like Yuki didn't know that, or the danger. Heck, his concern felt out of character to him. His conflicting feelings swirled between going and not going as Ji-Yoo and Shun spoke. And it was true, that egg of his hadn't hatched yet. He'd had it for so long. Why hadn't the guardian character come out? Shun and Ji Yoo's had been hovering around them for a while now.

“Ahh...you have a point, Jiji-chan,” he said, shrugging afterward. “It's not like we're heroes or anything. We should just leave it to the more experienced guys.”

He tried to smile it off, but it still bothered him that some idiots over at West Oto might hurt them. But that would be for another day. If he was lucky his chara would finally hatch! In the meanwhile, Shun mentioned something about getting some cold medicine. Now his lie would've been bought by Yuki if Shun had mentioned that it was for his parents, but for him? As Shun walked away, he turned to Ji-Yoo.

“...I don't know about you, but I don't think leaving him alone, even with Bee Man buzzing around, is a good idea. But you can go home if you want. I know that guy can be...”
He trailed off and followed him, but surely Ji-Yoo understood what he was talking about.

[Ji Yoo]

Initially, Ji-Yoo was pleased with Shun’s answer and nodded her head in approval, but then again, there was still something off about the way he acted. He was too calm, too not hyper, too not…himself. She was certain he was hiding something, but she didn’t know what. And perhaps she shouldn’t. If it was something related to the recent events, she’d rather remain ignorant. The girl really didn’t want to put herself in danger and somehow neither know that somebody close to her risked their life trying to achieve the impossible.

Ji-Yoo didn’t really believe the “buying medicine” thing, but she decided to just let it go. Maybe she was just overthinking, right? Besides, Shun wasn’t exactly the kind of person who would throw himself in the arms of something as scary-sounding as the egg-breakers. That’s right, he wasn’t that kind of person. Not the kind of Shun who shivered with every inch of his body in front of a masked student making a prank. Ji-Yoo let out a quiet sigh as she watched him leave.

The one that was probably the saddest about Shun’s departure was Kong-Ji. She really wanted to join Shun and say hi to flowers and go buy medicine. Life with him seemed so fun, the guardian character could totally get used to it. But Ji-Yoo would probably oppose to it to the very end. She was her human after all and Kong-Ji had to obey even if she didn’t like it. She glanced at Ji-Yoo with a sad puppy look. The girl never fell for her charms anyway, but Kong-Ji still did it. It was a habit. “Can’t we go with Shun chan? Please Ji-Yoo chan, let’s not leave him alone!”

Ji-Yoo snorted and just down-right ignored Kong-Ji. Her mind was a mess right now, she didn’t need her guardian character’s constant complaining. “Did you just call me what?” Her eyes narrowed into a glare as she crossed her arms. She was okay with people calling her by her first name because it sounded at least decent. But Ji-Yoo couldn’t stand nicknames or variations because most of the time, it ended up sounding incredibly cringey. Which was the case here. The girl had wised having been given a normal Japanese name giving the fact that she was born and raised in Japan. She hated having to explain herself every time someone asked her how come her Japanese is so good if she’s a foreigner?

“Phuh, I don’t care, you guys do whatever you want.” She puffed her cheeks and headed in the opposite direction. On a different note, she totally knew what Yuki meant. The girl had been around Shun long enough to know him, perhaps better than one would normally do, because he was such a transparent fellow. But it didn’t matter. It was none of Ji-Yoo’s business since they weren’t friends or anything. They weren’t but, what was this feeling inside her heart then? For some reason she kept thinking about the two boys and how they’d probably never come back… and she hated that thought. Without knowing or being able to do anything about it, she started following Yuki in silence.

“Ji-Yoo chan, are we going to go with them after all?” The loud Kong-Ji floated excitedly around Ji-Yoo, trying to get her attention, but she just seemed to have made her angry again. “Shush, you little pest! I don’t want them to notice me! Now strop causing trouble and get inside your egg” Ji-Yoo pointed to her bag. Her face was intimidating enough for Kong-Ji not to utter a single word of protest. “Also, don’t come out unless I call you. There are dangerous people around who want to kill fairies like you. I guess you don’t want that, do you?” Scared, the guardian character shook her head, her long braid bouncing around with the motion. She listened to Ji-Yoo and got out of sight.

[Deleted]

As soon as he thought he was out of sight, he made his way to the station. He did make a brief stop to the pharmacy though, as Leo suggested, just to throw off anyone who might be following him. But they didn't stay too long and well...Just bought a pack of throat lozenges instead. If he had been alone, he would've just made a bee line for the station without thinking. And yet they overlooked the simplest thing. Leo had his suspicion about some people following him, so he devised a plan to throw them off, and yet if they're smarter than he thinks, they'd catch on and maybe try to stop Shun from going. Maybe. He has mixed feelings about forcing Shun, then backing up at the last minute. It's also a thing between just letting him go alone and getting others in on this. Either way, no one is safe.

"Well, let's get this over with, then." Standing in front of the entrance, he hesitated a bit. It definitely isn't too late to turn back, but with a story like Yuki's and many people in danger over at West Otonoki, he really wanted to do something to help. Sure, the only real personality he showed to others are being hyper, being pathetically vain and being a coward. Doesn't speak too much to being cute and lovable when you put it that way. He's sure he picked up a hint of sympathy from others, sympathy that he doesn't really need. He's been observing despite looking like he doesn't know or care about a single thing, and being here simply means that the pangs finally culminated in a sort of reasoning to prove himself? He doesn't really know. Shun always felt like he just had to sit back and do nothing. And everything would be alright.

"First of all, you can't be scared if you're going in there. You got that?" Shun looked at Leo, a bit concerned about his uncertainty. Leo is usually 100% sure about something, but with this, he's just not sure how to handle it. "I told you to buy the pass, you don't have to use it. I don't know. If you want to, I won't stop you either. But you can't. For the life of god. Be scared." If Shun wanted to make his own decision and prove that he can be responsible for his own choices and actions, this would be the time. "We're going in." So there's really no shaking that resolve. And yet he still stood there unmoving. Maybe he also knows that Leo wanted to 'wait' for something to happen. He'll give it a few. Before he tries to pass to West Otonoki by himself.

[Yukiya]

"Ah, but that's the name of the cat from Kiki's Delivery Service!" he exclaimed, but backed down rather easily. See the last time he called a girl by a nickname he got smacked in the face, and Ji Yoo would probably do that to him if he wasn't careful. Since Ji Yoo didn't want to go with him, he just went on ahead...although as he got out of the school he realized he was being followed. He chuckled. Maybe this was just Ji Yoo's way of showing her concern? He pretended not to notice and concentrated on Shun for now.

At first, Shun did go to the pharmacy, so Yuki almost believed he wasn't lying. Except when Shun got out, he didn't look he was carrying cold medicine. He did buy something though, but the way Shun was going was the direction of the train station, so he followed the two until they were, in fact, in the train station.

"That liar--" he muttered. He turned back to check if Ji Yoo was still behind him. "He wanted to go by himself?"

Gesturing to Ji Yoo to follow him (because a two prong attack is better than one!), he ran up toward the ticketing station before the train to West Otonoki and to where Shun was standing. "Oy!" he said, putting his hands on Shun's shoulders, "Are you nuts?"

The shouting caught the attention of a few bystanders, so Yuki coughed and toned it down. His adrenaline was a bit too high. He took his hands off and crossed his arms. "...did you feel inspired by my story to go or something...?"

He was just..confused. But then Shun was never easy to pin down for Yuki ever. But to be honest, this might've been Yuki tomorrow if Shun hadn't come here today. Surely Ji Yoo was about to rip into them both, though. Yuki was still wavering, but since they'd already gotten this far...

Ah, this was crazy. Of course he should convince Shun out of this. But yet Yuki wanted to go too..and he wouldn't be alone, like he wished. "Just...think about this more!" he ended up saying. The train was coming in pretty soon though, so maybe they didn't really have time to think...

[Ji Yoo]

What kind of situation was this? So she was following Yuki while he was following Shun… the girl wondered where they would end up. By the looks of it, clearly not the pharmacy. Oh well, maybe, just briefly and he didn’t even seem to have bought cold medicine. It seemed that Shun had other plans, just like both her and Yuki predicted, ones that Ji-Yoo desperately hoped she was wrong about.

But he couldn’t be as fool as to go to the station. What would he even want to do in West Oto? Things were fine and quiet here… well, to some point, but they were definitely better off remaining here. West Oto was basically those egg-breaker’s nest. Going there would be like asking politely “Please break my heart’s egg and destroy my heart, so I can be an empty person forever.”

She kept following the boys with quiet footsteps and although she was far away enough from them, she still sometimes held her breath whenever Shun made an unexpected turn, which would most likely lead to the station. That was it. Maybe she should just go home. No use playing this fool’s game. She knew about the dangers involved, so it would be just natural to step away.

If the two boys wanted to play the suicide game, it should be none of her business. Yet again, they might wind up dead and when their lifeless bodies are found and rumors start going around, Ji-Yoo would have to admit that she knew they had gone to West Oto and yet did nothing about it not told anyone. It was a matter of pride too, after all.

‘You can’t be scared’, the girl told herself. You must be calm yet intimidating while you deal with them, or else they won’t listen to you. They won’t listen to the voice of reason! People almost always seemed to follow Ji-Yoo’s wishes because she was scary, which wasn’t that bad of a thing. But it also made her tired. There were times when she didn’t want to be like that but had to because the circumstances asked for it.

And there it was, the station. Yuki didn’t seem to want to hesitate and just watch Shun go away by himself so he just dashed forward, grabbing him by his shoulders. That’s right, he deserved it. But what concerned Ji-Yoo more was that he…looked behind before doing it and seemed like he was gesturing her something? Did Yuki know that she’d been following them all along?

The siren signaled the arrival of the train and Ji-Yoo was more troubled than ever. These two reckless guys would surely just jump on and… be gone forever. She had to act now. She had to hold them at least until the train left and then they’d just go back.

The doors were opening.

The girl ran as fast as she could to stop them from getting on. “HEYY!” She shouted out, hoping they’d wait. She was almost there… almost… no, she really was there.

And then she tripped.

And the tree of them fell flat on the train floor.

And then the doors closed.

[Deleted]

Right on cue, Yuki ran up to him to stop him. Shun partially regretted not just getting on the train by himself and getting it over with. "No. I'm not. I'm going to West Otonoki." It's rare to see some sort of solid resolve with this guy. Shun is always very wishy washy about whatever it is he wants to do. "I'm not asking you to tag along, so you might as well just go back." And Leo, usually the logical one of the bunch, didn't even say a word. He did promise, after all, to support decisions that Shun made all by himself. "I don't want to be constantly useless." And that part was inaudible.

He's not character changing, yet his personality is somewhat suppressed by the weight of the troubles that those in West Otonoki are facing. He could stay behind where it's safe, or he could try to make a difference. He knows he could be found dead if he's not careful, but how else is he going to learn to be more responsible anyway? Staying behind without experience won't give him what he needs. "And uhhh...Sort of? But I don't want you to go. I jut don't. Just let me go and I'll go check on them." The usual smile on his face is replaced by a frown. Not a very serious one, though, since he can't really pull off the angry look.

"I did think about it, and I want to go." And the train arrived, ready to take him to his destination. He tried his best to run through, But a surprise came in the form of Ji Yoo tailing them at high speed and then falling and crashing onto them. Now the three are in the train. Right before the door closes. While they were writhing in pain on the train floor, the doors closed and now they're all bound for West Otonoki. Now that it's too late to turn back, he stood up and took a seat at one of the train seats. He's not expecting the others to follow suit, but at least he'll use his pass to bring them along.

"Sorry."

He can't really say anything else. He felt like even if he had his own agenda, he doesn't quite know what it is. "I just thought that...If someone no one cares about just went out there, then maybe it'll get better cause no one's really worried?" He can't even really fool himself anymore. He didn't feel like anyone cared so much that they would think about him at any given moment. So that meant that if he went, no one would stop him and he won't have to feel conflicted at all. Looks like that's not the case.

"I'm sure you guys have other people who want to see you safe, I can't really say the same about myself." Because truth is, he's been struggling to feel happy about his new life. His constantly dissatisfied self is just getting in the way of behaving like a normal person. "If you'd like to take my pass on the way back, I mean..." Is he really going to say 'let me just keel over and die'? "Nevermind." He just can't. For the love of all things good, he can't even force a smile. Leo meanwhile, didn't want to talk or question Shun. But he really disagreed with the fact that he said that no one really cared about him. If no one else, his guardian character certainly does.

[Yukiya]

Yuki could feel the seriousness in Shun's stance and words. He should've known that Shun could be like this. The first time they met, Shun ran after a robber with no hesitation. Yet at the time he thought it was kind of a fluke, a split second thought to go after the man. But the fact that Shun had bought a pass before Yuki talked about his old friends, well, Shun would've had to put some thought into that, right?

Yuki was gonna tell Shun that was he was gonna follow him to West Oto, except the two of them were slammed down by Ji Yoo into the train. There wasn't enough force where Yuki thought it was on purpose, but the train was already leaving. He followed Shun and sat next to him, although he saw that he was somewhat lost and hesitant about his choice. Going back and forth on this adventure...Yuki knew he felt the same way.

But any of this self sacrificing dialogue was not gonna go through with him. "Okay, stop right there. The whole reason why I'm here is because I was worried about you. And Jij---Ji Yoo-san too," he said, biting his lip. But he resumed. "I bet you just didn't want to see anyone hurt if you could do something about it. And I get that. Just don't go into West Oto like a martyr, okay? We're gonna get in there, I check if my friends are ok, maybe investigate a little, and we leave. If we run into the egg hunters, we get the hell out of here."

He gave Shun a thumbs up. "Sounds good? Or is there something else I should know about these...egg things," he said, looking at both of them. Technically they had more experience than him having hatched charas and all.

[Ji Yoo]

Oh my God.

No way.

There was no way this was happening.

She was so close. So close to holding them back, but it was ultimately because of her that they now stood in the moving train, on their way to West Oto. On their way to their graves. She lingered on the floor for one extra second, mentally punishing herself for such a stupid mistake. Normally she’d apologize, but taking into account that the guys were actually planning to get in anyways, they should probably thank her. While she freaks the hell out.

Ji-Yoo finally stood up, although the speed on which she did it was that of a snail. The girl had to let everything sink in because she couldn’t quite believe that they were actually going there. A small sigh escaped her trembling lips. What should she do? What should she say? She had no energy to freak out and make a scene. And besides, it wouldn’t look good on someone like her. Upon looking over her shoulder, she saw the two boys who were having a heartfelt conversation.

“Worried.” She snorted. Okay, maybe she was a little worried, or else she wouldn’t have followed them. But admitting it was something else entirely. It was something she couldn’t do. The girl noticed that Shun was acting very different which, leaving the suicidal trip to West Oto aside, was worrisome itself. However, unlike Yuki, she couldn’t console anyone nor say words of encouragement. She was the type of person who would rather scold them to get back on their feet.

She took in a deep breath and thought of something to say.”So, do you at least have a plan?” Her tone was somehow accusing but also resigned. She knew that the boys wouldn’t just take the next train back. And no matter how much she wanted to, Ji-Yoo couldn’t leave them alone. She was the only one who had somewhat of a chance against the egg breakers. Yuki’s character hadn’t even hatched and she was sure that Shun didn’t even know about character transformations. He wasn’t the type of person whom she’d see fight.

[Deleted]

"But I really CAN do something about it. I mean, what's the use of these things and character changing if not to make things better?" But he doesn't exactly know how. He's betting that Yuki doesn't know either, since he has never seen Yuki's guardian character. Though, Ji Yoo might know a lot more, she has Kong Ji and probably won't divulge much else, since she's typically keeping things to herself. "For starters, they hatch and they tell you 'hey! I'm what you wanna be, probably.' And then, they change you and you can be what you wanna be? I'm not sure." He tried his best to explain, Leo isn't going to speak up, since he's too worried about the situation, anyway.

"You're worried about me?" Shun raised a brow. Sure, Ji Yoo doesn't look quite as convincing as Yuki, but even then, the feeling of having someone actually concerned about him enough and even to scold him still feels relatively strange and new. This is what he wanted, right? He needs someone to teach him right from wrong. Generally, he needs people who care. But he's never really seen genuine concern from anyone about his well being. Not even from his parents. "What's one casualty, compared to a hundred more?" Leo glared at Shun, even he doesn't like that thought at all. "Who cares about me. No one will notice I'm gone." His tone was almost...Mocking. True, it was Leo that forced Shun to buy the pass and go, but he didn't like Shun's train of thought. If he was going to go to West Otonoki, he better be coming back "You're taking me with you if you die, dumbass. I changed my mind but you STILL wanted to go anyway."

There it is again, Shun cried a little bit. It doesn't sound like he's whining, though. More like anger and realization that everything Leo said is in fact, true. Of course he'd bring it up. But it's so embarrassing even for Shun to have this heard by other people. "If you don't completely give up, you try to aim for an overkill. Is there no in between for you?" For once, Shun just wanted Leo to stop. He didn't want to break down at all. Not in front of these people. He is MUCH better than that. No one should know what he really feels like. But he understood that it's wrong to overkill or give up. Especially giving up on life when it just started new for him.

"Yeah I think that sounds fine." He sniffed, just plainly agreeing to the plan. Whatever Yuki said, he thought. "A plan, we did have one. But we don't think it's going to work quite simply. I think it might have caused this little fiasco. I told Shun we should lure one of the hunters out. We'd do our best to neutralize the threat. We're sure we can't eliminate them. I pulled back because I realized how difficult it would be to fight them head on. One on one." Shun looked at Leo and back at the others. True, there's probably no chance of them surviving, and the fear that the enemy would have the upper hand prompted Shun to kind of lose it, and see it as a martyr work. But who would he really save? Who really cares?

Just a character change won't do at all. But they do have another trick up their sleeves. Though Shun might be unwilling to cooperate. Just the word 'fight' is enough to make him hide in a dark corner, never to come out. Leo thought it'd be the perfect time to test the transformation, but it would be impossible if Shun isn't up for it. Right? Ever since a certain incident, Leo can't bring himself to force much on Shun. It could be that their desire to understand and support each other is getting in the way of some other development. "We're not going in completely blind." Shun still believes that there are other ways to fix the problem, not just with a fight. "We'll talk it out first, right? Let me talk to them first. Aren't the people too?"